LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Sept Long Beach Tokens & Medals Auction  / 

81134

1892-3 Saint-Gaudens, HK-223, AU55 NGC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:33.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1892-3 Saint-Gaudens, HK-223, AU55 NGC
<B>1892-3 Saint-Gaudens, HK-223, AU55 NGC.</B></I> Bronze, 38.1 mm, "rare" according to the 1963 Hibler-Kappen edition. This is the medal that started the whole Charles Barber-Augustus Saint-Gaudens rivalry and controversy. Saint-Gaudens' masterful obverse depicts a Columbus transfixed by the moment he sets foot onto the New World, and his the massive form, nearly stepping out of the round tondo, reminds the viewer of the massive treatment of the purposeful striding Liberty he would place, 15 years later, on the double eagle. His original reverse design, featuring a nude Greek youth, was rejected for reasons that differ according to the teller, and Charles Barber ended up supplying a predictable design. Vermeule's <I>Numismatic Art in America </B></I>comments of the Saint-Gaudens obverse, "The sculptor has intended all the details to center around the powerful emotions of Columbus; for this reason the other participants are kept away from the center, only the swirl of the banner counteracting the upturned, youthful head of the discoverer, so like ideal portraits of Alexander the Great. As an entity the composition breathes mastery of the human figure over a limited area made interesting by variations in surface planes."<BR> Of the final Barber reverse Vermeule says, "The remainder of the Barber reverse is prosaic in the extreme, the torches with fillets and the layers of inscription. Still, the total design was not so hideous as to call forth the condemnation that accompanied rejection of the Saint-Gaudens reverse for reasons beyond the control or business of the Mint officials." Nonetheless, Saint-Gaudens found the whole affair distasteful, and “this excursion into official medallic design, marred by a comic controversy, ended Saint-Gaudens’ connections with United States coins and medals for another fifteen years. When he was to return to the subject, at the very end of his career, it was to be in a blaze of glory and amid more friction with Barber and the Mint.”<BR> This lustrous, glossy brown piece still shows some faded mint red, with scant evidence of actual circulation. A historic piece, and a medallic tribute to one of the leading sculptors of the 20th century. Don’t let this one get away!<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot